Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum Cleaner

[Ian]

A couple of months back, I ordered a Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum Cleaner (imported from China), as it would help out with a lot of the cleaning and save me a lot of time (if I vacuumed as much as I should!). It cost just over £200, inc delivery.

It arrived this afternoon and I've had it running a couple of times now. I have to admit, I'm a lot more impressed than I thought I would be. The room mapping is particularly clever and it seems to plan routes sensibly and suck up a lot of dust. The setup was less than ideal, as everything was in Chinese at first .

I'll get a review online in a few weeks once I've had a chance to fully tesit, but I was interested to hear if anyone else has got one? This it the v1 version, without the mop.

 

[nivrip]

Glad to hear that you're impressed, Ian. You mention room mapping so how does it differ from the Roomba which just seems to wander randomly but eventually does cover the whole surface.

Have you given it a name yet?

 

[V_R]

Oooh, I've been looking at these but the price has put me off a bit as I assumed the cheaper ones might not be much good. You have now again piqued my interest.

Looking forward to your review!

 

[Ian]

Glad to hear that you're impressed, Ian. You mention room mapping so how does it differ from the Roomba which just seems to wander randomly but eventually does cover the whole surface.

The vacuum has an LDS-SLAM sensor mounted on the top (Laser Distance Sensor - Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), so it maps the room as it drives around. It's got lots of other sensors to detect bumps and distance, but I've not investigated it too heavily yet. It does a very good job of getting round. Here's a screenshot I found online of the sort of map it generates on your phone whilst on the move (I'll take my own photos/screenshots in the main review):


(Click to enlarge)

Have you given it a name yet?

Yep, it's called Vanessa... the "fembot" from Austin Powers . @Becky's idea, not mine .

Oooh, I've been looking at these but the price has put me off a bit as I assumed the cheaper ones might not be much good. You have now again piqued my interest.

Looking forward to your review!

Same here, but at £200 I couldn't resist. TBH, it seems to have better specs than a lot of the much higher priced ones available over the counter in the UK. These generally have to be imported to get this price, otherwise they're about 50% more (but have better warranty protection).

I'll hold judgement until I've really tested it heavily, as I'm only a few hours in - but it looks promising.

Interesting, it looks like it runs Ubuntu 14.04... on an ARM Cortex A7 quad core processor! @bootneck02 & @Abarbarian... if you're ever after a new linux system that can do the vacuuming, now's your chance .

 

[nivrip]

Wow, £200 is a very good price. We paid £269 for our Roomba two and a half years ago and it is clearly nowhere near the spec of your Vanessa. But we are very happy with our Ronnie and feel that he does a pretty good job.

 

[muckshifter]

I get Mr Henry out, sit in my swivel chair, turn around a few time and I'm done.

 

[Becky]

Yep, it's called Vanessa... the "fembot" from Austin Powers . @Becky's idea, not mine .

It's because she's got a lady voice

I wasn't that keen at first (maybe because Ian told me it was my Valentines present ) but I have to admit it does a very good job. I can't vacuum at the moment because it's too much for my back, so I have to rely on Ian to do it... hence why Vanessa is now in our lives!!

I'm looking forward to our next party...

 

[EvanDavis]

Bucket and mop for me. My flat is tiled throughout

 

[Becky]

Bucket and mop for me. My flat is tiled throughout

The newest version does mopping as well as vacuuming It's quite a bit more though.

 

[Ian]

We've had it for about a week now, and I love it . I'm really surprised at how well it navigates complex areas, I set it off whilst I was having breakfast just to watch it go around all of the chair legs . It's like having a pet .

 

[V_R]

So tempted....

 

[Becky]

I'm a total convert. Ian suggested it a while back but I wasn't keen, but I'm really glad we've got it. Don't think our floors have ever been cleaned so regularly!

 

[nivrip]

. I'm really surprised at how well it navigates complex areas, I set it off whilst I was having breakfast just to watch it go around all of the chair legs . It's like having a pet .

Yep, it does get a bit addictive.

We've had ours for two and a half years but I still sometimes find myself watching "him" working his way around things.

 

[Ian]

We've had ours for two and a half years but I still sometimes find myself watching "him" working his way around things.

I've been tempted to set up an obstacle course .

 

[V_R]

Still going?!

I'm tempted to take a punt on the Eufy RoboVac 11 from Amazon.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M5BCRJR/

 

[Ian]

Yep, still really like it - in fact I set it off this morning before breakfast .

It doesn't look like that Eufy robot vacuum has the laser scanning head (a HUGE deal when it comes to room mapping) and I can't see anything about wifi (not just useful for controling via phone, but also great for firmware updates). There's a firmware update coming out for the Xiaomi vacuum v1 which enables zoned cleaning from the app (i.e. "clean the lounge").

The Xiaomi is only a little bit more, as long as you can wait for delivery. I think it's probably going to be a step up in terms of how it cleans (the Eufy can only bump around, rather than plan).

 

[Ian]

Looks like it's about £230 from the China warehouse atm:

https://www.banggood.com/Original-X...800Pa-5200mAH-with-APP-Control-p-1098131.html

 

[V_R]

Ah nice one, yeah that makes like a much better buy. I wouldn't care about the delivery times, as long as it makes it here in one piece.

Out of interest, I take it it is in English, the app and everything I mean?

 

[Ian]

It's in Chinese at first, but the app is in English and lets you install an English voice pack. The power cable came with an Chinese plug, but I just added a UK one (rather than using an adaptor). Really pleased with it and it's even converted @Becky .

 

[Becky]

and it's even converted @Becky .

Yarp

I'll admit I wasn't keen at first, but it's bloomin' amazing. We still have to do bits of vacuuming (eg tight corners, stairs) but it's minimal. Now we just need a robot to do the washing and dusting